Essay Standards
by Nora Nadeshiko
Summary: Isn't really a story… just something my idle mind thought. SSHG though no romance. One-shot.


_**ESSAY STANDARDS**_

: Prof Hermione Snape

**SUMMARY**: Isn't really a story... just something my idle mind thought. SS/HG though no romance. One-shot.

Harry inwardly groaned as he saw the "D" on his paper slashed in black ink, glaring maliciously up at him. Heck, he could see that the "D" was smirking at him! Just like the man who had put it there, Severus Snape.

He cursed Snape – mentally. He was slightly worried that if this continued, then there would be no chances of him being an Auror _ever_.

He looked up to see that most of the students except Hermione, Malfoy and Zabini were staring bitterly at their papers. Well, Hermione wasn't _exactly_ 'staring bitterly', but she was alternately frowning at her paper and then at the Potions Master, who was marking some essays, and so did not notice her scowls.

Presently, Snape seemed a greater trouble than Voldemort. He scowled at the paper as he put it in his bag.

"This is absolutely _unfair_!" declared Padma. "He had the nerve to give _me_ an 'A'! I know it for a _fact _that he gave Blaise Zabini an 'E' for an absolutely nonsense essay. At least I have got all the _facts_ correct. They are _straight_ from the book. What else does the man _want_?"

As Harry listened to Padma's ranting, he realized that he wasn't the sole receptor of Snape's biasness.

"He gave _Malfoy _an 'E', too! That bloke doesn't even know that monkshood and Wolfsbane is one and the same thing until now!" grumbled another Ravenclaw.

"Severus?"

"Headmaster."

"Could you sit down for a minute, Severus? We need to _talk_."

Severus complied reluctantly.

"I perceive this is about the grades again?" he asked, just stopping himself from rolling his eyes.

"You cannot fail _more_ _than_ _half_ of them per assignment, you know."

"They are a bunch of dunderheads," said Severus determinedly.

Dumbledore shook his head. "They all got an 'O' in their Potions OWLs, Severus. Surely, that counts for something?"

"They are in seventh year. It is far, far tough than fifth year. It is not my fault that they are not studying properly. I do my best to teach them and you know it."

Dumbledore regarded Severus with 'the look'. Severus knew it. There was something which Dumbledore knew which either was going to embarrass him or belittle him.

"Here is Miss Granger's essay, Severus," said Dumbledore, producing a parchment from his robe pocket.

"It was... _fine_."

"Fully deserving the 'A' it got, perhaps?"

"I don't know," said Severus sarcastically, "maybe it was 'P' material?"

"Severus," replied Dumbledore sternly, "you know she deserves far more than 'O', even!"

"Exactly."

For the first time in his life, Severus had the great pleasure of seeing the Headmaster struck speechless.

"Pardon me?" he choked out at last.

"I said, '_exactly'_. She deserves far _more_ than 'O'," repeated Snape, his eyes glinting.

"Then why is there an 'A' on her paper?"

"Gryffindors have an innate tendency to get their heads inflated at the smallest of praises. You have to keep a tight leash over their gigantic egos."

Dumbledore frowned. "That is no reason for _failing_ them!"

"Their essays, Headmaster, are not up to my standard."

"And, pray tell, what is _your_ _standard_?" asked Dumbledore, feeling exasperated.

Snape took the parchment from Dumbledore. He regarded it keenly for some time, reading it. A small smirk played upon his lips. He had no reason for doing this. It was not according to his usual behaviour. But he did it nevertheless.

He pulled out his wand and tapped the 'A'.

He got up and held the parchment to Dumbledore's face.

"_This_ is my standard. And if others fail to achieve it, well, they fail."

And pocketing the said parchment, exited his private laboratory.

Dumbledore stared after the flourish of his robes, for once, at a total – without doubt, absolute – loss of words.

Hermione wondered if Dumbledore had talked to Professor Snape about her essay. After fifteen failed attempts to make the Potions Master grade her paper 'sensibly and without bias', she had resorted to desperate measures. Talk to Dumbledore. But it had been two days now and Dumbledore had neither told her anything about the paper or returned it.

That day, Snape asked her to stay back after class.

"Miss Granger," he began, "I am... satisfied that you are now immune to disgusting ego inflation. Here's your paper. Next time, come here with your _whines_ and do _not_ resort to complaining to the Headmaster. It is most despicable."

Snape was rather proud of himself. He had turned two know-it-all loquacious Gryffindors speechless in two days.

Miss Granger gave him an incredulous look before mumbling something incomprehensible and going out.

_Hmmm_... maybe he could give Potter some house-points in front of Minerva and make it four Gryffindors.

Hermione still couldn't believe that she had got seven 'O's in a row from the Potions Master known for _never ever _giving 'O's to anybody.

As she finished her potion and bottled it, she wondered how convincing Dumbledore had been.

But she took the vial to Snape for grading, and their eyes met, she knew that he had not got any 'convincing statement' from Dumbledore. He just... _meant_ that she was good enough now.

Potions class had never seemed a more comfortable class.

She was protective of her grade though, and made it 'O's till the NEWTs.

_Miss Granger,_

_Congratulations on your high NEWTs scores. Recommendation certificate to National Potions Master and Mistresses Forum is enclosed._

_Severus Snape,_

_Potions Master._

Maybe he had overdone it, he thought as he leaned back in his armchair, but you do get the feeling of 'empathy' when you know just how the other person feels.

He knew that she wondered at times if the discrimination was because she was a 'Mudblood'. She could never be more wrong. For how could he, who was an illegitimate 'mud-blood' himself, wrong her? For once, he was disposed to kindness. It wasn't _kindness_, exactly, but protectiveness.

The war might have ended but the discrimination by the purebloods would never cease. He couldn't end it altogether, but surely, he could fight against it.

All that aside, there was a grim satisfaction – unlike any before – in marking Malfoy's last assignment with a large "P". After all, as he had once told Dumbledore, his essay standards were quite high.

**Like it? Hate it? Please review? If you want, I could build a story out of it or just another one-shot. Especially the last part. Whatever you think, please review!**


End file.
